Social media is an essential aspect of our contemporary society. Many agencies and government departments are adopting the use of social media in their public relations strategies. However, identifying relevant information for decision-making can be overwhelming, and thus, there is a need for setting goals and guidelines for the use of social media to enhance its effectiveness. With a developed social media plan, agencies can easily analyze emerging trends and establish how they can be used to bolster service delivery for the citizens, especially during times when the nation is facing disaster. Every part of the social media standards and policies are nevertheless operational under ordinary reliability but need to be accommodative to pave ay for effective disaster management.
Audience
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) uses social media not only during times of disasters but also to educate the public on how they can assist the agency in the deterrence of the supply of illegal narcotics within the United States. The agency ensures that the public is enlightened on how they can identify the illicit drugs or peddlers and the best way they can relay this information through the right channel without disclosing their identities (Drug Policy Information, 2019). Additionally, the DEA also targets other federal agencies for the exchange of critical information that could help it in their task of curbing the trafficking and use of narcotics. Business organizations such as financial institutions are also among the targeted audiences.
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Goals
The social media plan aims to assist in effective communication using different online social platforms, especially during times of increased prevalence of narcotic trafficking and abuse. By using the set policy, citizens are allowed to share or post their views to ensure there is continuity in the discussion, and the information is passed on. Those who use the DEA's social media platforms will be permitted to send, reply, or post relevant comments regarding illicit drug menace. The discussion should also be relevant to that specific platform (Social media policy, 2017). Furthermore, those who agree to use the sites will refrain from defaming, harassing, abusing, threatening, stalking, or generally violating the publicity and privacy of other users.
The other goal for the use of social media is to ensure that the people are educated on ways of identifying illegal drugs or suspected peddlers and how to use the right channel in reporting such incidences without disclosing their identities. Users should refrain from conducting contests, chain letters, pyramid schemes, spamming, junk email, or sending commercial messages (Social media policy, 2017). They also shall avoid making available or uploading files that include applications, photographs, video, audio, images, or any material that is patented by trademark or copyright laws unless they control or on the rights or are permitted lawfully to do so.
Resources
The resources that will be used to ensure that the general public is educated on the best way to assist in the combating the distribution of illegal drugs is through the use of the DEA website where people can refer to some of the published content useful to them (Drug Policy Information, 2019). The agency will further use other credible news agency websites to update the public, especially on the news related to the drug bust. Access to these websites will give the users firsthand information as well as bestow confidence in them that the information they provide is critical in achieving such results. Videos of successful busts will be shared on the agency’s YouTube channel while pictures or videos of known drug cartels will be posted on the social media platforms.
Tactics
When responding to disasters, the agency will keep the public informed with relevant current information. During these times, only verified information would be published, and in case there is a misperception, immediate action will be taken to ensure that the information is corrected via the social media platforms. Moreover, a section of the plan includes educating the masses with campaigns such as the “Kingpin Strategy.” The campaign targets not only investigative but also enforcement endeavors on identified organizations that are trafficking drugs (History, n.d). It is through this campaign that drug lords such as Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria’s reigns were brought to an end.
It will be upon the social media manager to approve all contents posted. At times of increased criminal activity, the frequency of the postings will be increased to ensure that people are well informed. At least three tweets will be posted daily, while one posting will be made on LinkedIn and Facebook. At least one video will be uploaded on YouTube weekly (Social media policy, 2017). The shortest time possible will be taken to respond to queries through the same channels they were posted, and the maximum time for the response shall be one business day. The same agility will be used to remove any posts or comments that violate the terms of service.
Measurement and Analysis
The communication tactics will be analyzed for their success or failure through the analytics that is provided by the social media such as the number of people reached on Facebook and the number of impressions made by the tweet. Interactions with the posts such as the number of likes, comments, and shares will be used as metrics of analysis for Facebook and LinkedIn, while the number retweets, replies, and likes will indicate the popularity of posted tweets (Social media policy, 2017). On YouTube, the number of views likes dislikes and shares will be reviewed to gain information on the success of the tactics.
The social media platform has proven to be a significant channel for delivering news, especially during emergency and crises because most people expect to receive breaking news alerts from their social media pages. Another reason behind it is that many people spend most of their time on social media. Hence, it is the only reliable way to reach them as these channels cross geographic boundaries extremely fast.
References
Drug Policy Information (2019). Retrieved August 13, 2019, from https://www.dea.gov/drug-policy-information
History (n.d). Retrieved August 14, 2019, from https://www.dea.gov/history
Social media policy (2017, July). Retrieved August 13, 2019, from https://www.opm.gov/news/social-media-presence/social-media-policy.pdf
Appendix
Appendix 1: The DEA’s Social Media Policy
By using various Social Media platforms, the DEA is committed to offering official and accurate information to the general public. It should be noted that these sites are commercial and thereby profit-oriented; thus, they are not in any form whatsoever mandated to abide by government standards. Therefore, prior to the use of social media channels, it is your responsibility to familiarize with their rules of usage and policies on privacy. In connection with this, you might find it helpful to also check on the social media policies from the Department of Justice.
